The Jain Deities-

As there are considerable numbers of jains, chiefly in the north and north- west of India, some account should be given of their objects of worship. The origin of this sect is obscure, especially as their chronology is so wild and extravagant. Hindu notions of time are reasonable compared with those of the jains.

                                                            In some respect, there is much in the tents of this religion that closely resembles those of Buddhism. Both reject the divine origin and authority of the Vedas; though when a Vedic text agrees with his own belief, a learned jain will not scruple to employ it to buttress his own teaching. Both may be regarded as heretical sects of Hinduism. Both reject the divine institutions of caste, and profess to believe in the social and religious equality of man; though the jains are not regarded as outside the pale of Hinduism. For when, as it sometimes happens, a jain wishes to worship as an orthodox Hindu, a place is found for him in the caste system. He is not treated as outcast. Both acknowledge in a general way the more common and modern of the Hindu deities, and very much of the worship of the both is very  similar to that which prevails amongst the Hindus. In both systems a number of saints have been raised to the dignity of deities and have largely taken the place of the inferior gods of the Hindu Pantheon. In fact , at one time it was a commonly received opinion that the jains were the present day representatives of the Buddhists. But fuller and more correct knowledge has shown that two religious , though strikingly similar have distinct and separate origins.